Purge
by dentan
Summary: The third story about Shizuka, the captain of squad 9


Purge  
"Are you sure you want to come captain Ryuzaki? I can handle this myself if you want to stay here and finish up the paperwork." Shuuhei said and turned to me. I smiled and shook my head.  
"Even my powers will rust if I don't use them you know. Besides Shuuhei I thought we agreed on doing things like this together since that incident" He nodded with a stern face and looked back ahead of him. I grinned and poked his arm.  
"What´s up with the face? No need to look that serious is there`` I said as I giggled and ran ahead to the entrance to the world of the living. I heard Shuuhei´s low snicker as he hurried his steps to join up with me again.  
"So what do you think this thing is anyway? I mean… why would they send soul reapers with our ranks if it´s just an ordinary hollow?" He asked. I shrugged my shoulders and spun around to look at him but my eyes suddenly stopped at the man behind him. Those evil eyes and that mocking grin… _Kurosuchi_ I thought as I shot him a murderous look. Shuuhei looked surprised at me at first and then looked back to see what it was that had caught my attention.  
"Hello there" the man said with his usual creepy voice and stopped next to Shuuhei who he didn't bother to greet and kept his eyes steadily on mine. "Purging a hollows sins away I assume" I raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms over my chest.  
"Yeah, though I can't help but to think that you didn't come all the way here just to wave me off… captain Kurosuchi" I said in an ironic tone. He sneered and took another step towards me and from the corner of my eye I saw Shuuhei lay his hand on his zanpakto.  
"I´m here to make you a deal… or more exactly- I´m here because I need your help with an experiment" I laughed dryly but in surprise my arms fell to my sides.  
"Not interested- pick someone else"  
"Trust me I would if I could but you see this experiment need someone like you- captain Ryuzaki"  
"In other words you need a freak?"  
"…Yes" He said simply as if he hadn't said anything offending at all. _Seeing me as a mere test subject are we? _I thought and snarled as I frowned my eyes.  
"You see captain Ryuzaki. As you know our zanpaktou has the ability to purge the sins from a soul, the hollow, when we cut them. What I´m interested to know is if it would work in the same way on someone who has a monster or some other similar being sealed inside of them which soils the soul with its sins. In other words, what I want is to test this theory by cutting you and see if we can purge the monster out of you and free your soul the same way we do with hollows. Of course this might also lead to your death but you can rest assure that wouldn't be for nothing"  
"Wait a minute how dare you compare my captain with a hollow" Shuuhei suddenly yelled out and took his stance.  
"Wait…" I said as I stretched out my arm in a halt gesture without leaving Kurosuchi´s eyes.  
"You got a lot of nerve captain" I said in a cold tone "Come on Shuuhei lets go" I said gentler as I faced Shuuhei and turned away from Kurosuchi who snorted irately as he spun around and with quick steps made his back to his laboratory.  
"Yes" Shuuhei said and hurried to my side.

The sun had just settled behind the horizon and the only light source remaining where the light from the streetlamps casting their long shadows across the streets. Shuuhei and I stood quietly on the sidewalk around the corner of a building and looked around us, searching for the hollow who´s spiritual pressure had been here just a second ago.  
"It´s spiritual pressure was here just a moment ago" I said irately and just as I squatted down on the sidewalk a ferocious roar and the deafening sound of building crashing down was heard behind us.  
"There it is" I yelled happily but as I suddenly remembered that it was a hollow my face turned stern as I drew out my zanpakto out of its sheath on my back. Shuuhei jumped up and attacked it from above but just as he was about to cut through the hollows face he was knocked and sent away tumbling several meters.  
"SHUUHEI" I yelled and ran after him. He shot up quickly from the ground with an angry look on his face.  
"Shuuhei are you okay?" I said as I caught up with him. He nodded without letting the hollow out of his sight. Suddenly I saw blood streaming down under his hair and hit his arm.  
"Why are you nodding when you bleeding and obviously aren't okay?" He looked honestly surprised as he moved his hand to the wound and carefully touched it and saw the now blood-soaked fingers. The hollow slowly began to walk towards them, the ground cracked for each step he took and he let out another deafening roar just before it lunged itself towards us. Shuuhei´s reflexes had worsened after the hard hit to his head after that last attack so I grabbed his arm and dragged him with me to the other side of the street using flash step.  
"Thanks" he said gratefully and smiled but just as it appeared he saw the hollow behind me lunge another hit towards us and it faded, he quickly got to his feet again and grabbed me by my waist as he jumped up on the roof of the building I had just sat him down to lean his back against.  
"That was close" he exhaled. He turned his face from me to hide his pain but I´ve known him for too long to not to be able to read every little detail in his face and postures. I could tell if he was lying, when he was in pain and what he actually felt. _That hit must have torn some of his newly treated wounds open again_ _or else he wouldn't have been in this much pain after just that hit_ I thought as I observed him. He knew he had been reckless, I could see it in his face but I could also see that he wasn't going to give up that easily. I placed my hand on his shoulder and pressed him down to the roof and with a thud he landed on his behind.  
"Captain…" He whispered and stared surprised at me. I smiled reassuring and steadied my grip around the hilt of my zanpakto.  
"I told you Shuuhei, my powers will also rust if don't use them. You've done enough so just sit there nice and quiet and rest alright" I said as I turned to face the hollow. _This hollow isn't just an average hollow. If it was, Shuuhei even in his already damaged state wouldn't have a problem to kill it_. I thought and glanced back at him. _I have to get him to the relief station and that´s quick. _I stated when I saw that more blood had begun to rapidly spill out from his old wounds and that the pool of blood gotten vast larger than just a second ago. I looked back at the hollow again as I drew my hand across the blade and pointed it towards the cloudless sky and with a steady voice I called out  
"Freak out, Shirokouhi" as I called out her name lightning flashes suddenly colored the black clouds that had gathered above us white and as I swung down my sword towards the ground, countless lightning flashes crashed down towards the hollow. I knew that to use shikai on a hollow was a bit overboard for a captain but I had to finish it quickly. With one final roar the hollow faded the sky cleared and as the particles of the soul raised to the sky I slid my zanpakto back into its sheath and followed them with my eyes.  
"Freeing the soul, huh?" I whispered as I thought of Kurosuchi's words and as I watched the now soul now free from sins gently floating up towards the sky the thought of having my soul free from the monster inside of me seemed more than tempting. No more whispering behind my back about what a monster I really am, that the reason behind my captain post is so that central 46 could control me, that I´m a threat to the soul society. After all, Kurosuchi said it was just a chance that I wouldn't survive. Without realizing it I had unsheathed my sword once again and held it doubtfully against my throat.  
"SHIZUKA?" Shuuhei´s sudden scream pulled me back from my thoughts. I shrieked surprised as he pushed me to the ground and swiftly took the sword away from me.  
"Wh-what are you doing?" I said breathing heavily.  
"Me? No- What are you doing holding your sword to your throat like that? What were you thinking dammit?" He said angrily and looked down at me with a demanding look on his face. I felt my hands behind me holding me up begin to tremble. Tears started to run down my cheeks as I slowly began to realize what I had been about to do and in shame I covered my face with my hands.  
"I´m sorry Shuuhei… it´s just that I am so tired of living like this, it feels like I keep running and running but I don't get anywhere. It feels like the only difference from before is that people now at least pretends to like and respect me but as soon as I turn my back they are immediately back to detest me" I screamed into my hands "I just want to be normal, to be free… to be me. I want people to see me, not the monster" I now whispered more to myself than to him. I suddenly felt his arms wrap around me and lift me up, my legs on each side of his stomach  
"Are you really sure you want to go as far as to kill yourself now that you're finally so close to get people to recognize you. It might take some time but trust me when I say that everything will be okay with or without the monster" he said whispering into my hair. 

_/Basically it´s about Shizuka´s wish to be "normal" by removing the monster inside of her, letting her soul be free._


End file.
